Kuhmo, Finland
Ursus arctos
Standing his ground, a Eurasian brown bear play-fights with his mother in remote woodlands along Finland's border with Russia. Across Europe, big bruins and other wildlife are making a comeback.]]>

Mont Blanc, France
Capra ibex
Dwarfed by Mont Blanc and a glacial lake, an alpine ibex (left) pauses on its journey back from the brink. Down to fewer than a hundred animals in the 1800s, ibex now number 40,000, thanks to aggressive reintroduction.]]>

Oulu, Finland
Strix nebulosa
Long on charisma, short on habitat, the great gray owl was once so feared as an evil omen that it was shot on sight. Now protected, it is reclaiming lost territory and thriving on voles, mice, and other small mammals.]]>

Azores, Portugal
Caretta caretta; Naucrates ductor
Trailed by pilotfish, a young loggerhead cruises Atlantic waters around the Azores, where all sea turtles are protected by the EU. Juveniles typically reside within 15 feet of the surface, where waters are warm.]]>

Saltee Islands, Ireland
Morus bassanus
The northern gannet spends most of its life at sea, plunging into the water for prey. But during the summer breeding season, the migratory birds pause to colonize rocky outcrops.]]>

Madeira Islands, Portugal
Monachus monachus
Once common in the Mediterranean, the monk seal is now the world's most endangered seal species. In the protected waters of the Madeira Islands, its population has increased from six to 35 individuals since the late 1980s.]]>

Gibraltar, United Kingdom
Macaca sylvanus
Transplants from North Africa, Barbary macaques have colonized the Rock of Gibraltar for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years. Besides humans, macaques are the only European primates.]]>

Kemeri, Latvia
Left behind when the Baltic receded millennia ago, the bogs, fens, and woodlands of Kemeri National Park are part of the European Union's Natura 2000 network, which protects 27,000 sites.]]>

Inverness, United Kingdom
Sciurus vulgaris
Losing ground and numbers, Europe's native red squirrel is poorly matched against Sciurus carolinensis, an invader from North America that muscles in on food supplies and carries a virus lethal to reds.]]>

Donna Nook, United Kingdom
Halichoerus grypus
Kicking up sand, male gray seals fight over females at Donna Nook on the English coast, where a Royal Air Force bombing range doubles as a nature preserve, home to a breeding population of 2,000 seals.]]>

Białowieża, Poland
Bison bonasus
In Europe's wild east, conservationists reintroduced the iconic European bison to Poland's Białowieża Forest in 1952, bringing back an animal that had once inhabited the continent's woodlands.]]>

Gran Paradiso, Italy
Rupicapra rupicapra
Cousin to both antelope and mountain goat, a chamois cruises a snowfield in the Italian Alps. As Europeans abandon farming for other livelihoods and the countryside for cities, wildlife is reclaiming lost territory.]]>